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THE BURNING OF 
THE PEGGY STEWART 

•RELIGIOUS TOLERATION 
^IN MARYLAND 

Aftif^al Decorations 
m the Baltimore Cburt House 




3J^' 



ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED ON THE OCCASION 
OF THE UNVEILING OF THE MURAL 
DECORATIONS THE BURNING OF 
THE PEGGY STEWART" PAINTED 
BYCHARLES YARDLEY TURNER AND 
"RELIGIOUS TOLERATION PAINTED 
BY EDWIN HOWLAND BLASHFIEU) 




ISSUED BY THE MUNICIPAL ART 
SOCIETY OF BALTIMORE ^ iM 



MADE BY 

MUNDER-THOMSEN COMPANY 

BALTIMORE 

Price, $i.oo. Post-paid. 



Gift 
The Society 



CONTENTS 
I 

The Burning of the Peggy Stewart : 

The Painter Theodore Marburg 9 

Response E. Clay Timanus 35 

The Incident Edwin Warfield 41 

Letter Charles Tardley Turner 61 

II 
Religious Toleration : 

Address Ira Remsen 67 

Letter Edward Rowland Blashfield 95 

III 

Extracts from Addresses, Annual Meeting 
Municipal Art Society : 

Parks, etc, Theodore Marburg 99 

School Decoration . Elizabeth King Ellicott 105 

Treaty of Calvert with the Indians : 

Letter Charles Tardley Turner 1 1 7 



Cbarles l^arMe^ burner's 
'^be Burning of tbe peggi^ Stewart'' 

unveiled at 

The Courthouse, January 11th 

1905 



*'Z\)c painter" 

address of 
Theodore Marburg 





Zbc ip>ainter» 

[O often a building is dedi- 

i^gAjj cated or a monument un- 

^ ^1 veiled with slight reference, 
or none, to the man from 
whose mind it was evolved. 
Surely we owe such a one a passing tribute, 
particularly as the future is apt to remem- 
ber him when our names are forgotten. 
The painter, especially, has claims upon 
us, for he, more than others, is called upon 
to be faithful to his ideals. Ceaseless strug- 
gle and actual privation often mark his 
early career. Not infrequently they prove 
his gaunt companions to the end, even 
though fame pause later in her flight to 
weave a magic round his name. 

Charles Yardley Turner attributes his 
success as a painter to his mastery of 
technique, by hard work, and to his deter- 

9 



mination to understand. One would think 
that art is surely something which the 
worker may take up or throw aside at 
will, working spasmodically if he choose, 
doing as much or as little as he likes. 
But the fact is, many of the noted artists 
whose daily life we know, were and are 
tremendous workers. When Rembrandt 
could find no other subjects he had the 
hardihood to paint portraits of himself. 
The person who wished to identify the 
great English Turner was directed to look 
for the man with a pencil in his hand, for 
he was seldom without one. In order to 
avoid interruption Rosa Bonheur estab- 
lished her home in the little village of By 
in the forest of Fontainebleau with none 
but peasants as neighbors. She lived with 
her horses and her mastiffs. For a time, 
until he became dangerous, a lion whelp 
was the cheerful companion of her bed- 
chamber. Meissonier was indefatigable and 
notably conscientious. He would go back 
again and again at a picture until frequently 
the purchaser was compelled to fix a date 
on which to take the picture away. At 



lo 



times he made wax models of the central 
figure of a projected painting so that he 
might look all round the figure. Then 
came an elaborate study painted on wood 
before he was ready to insert the figure 
in the final picture. 

That consummate draftsman, Bou- 
guereau, paints till the light fades and 
then takes up his pencil to make addi- 
tions to the pile of sketches one finds in 
his atelier. 

Charles Yardley Turner frankly declares 
that in his case he has found no flow of 
genius to take the place of application. 
When he happens upon a certain effect in 
the course of his work, he endeavors to 
understand how it was produced. If he 
succeeds, the thing is then his. This 
method has characterized the whole of 
Turner's life. His mind calls for an 
explanation of things, and his nature is 
not to be satisfied until he understands. 
What he does once, as a rule, he can 
do again. 

Turner received his first instruction in 
art at the Maryland Institute, for he is a 



Baltimorean, as were his father and grand- 
father before him. The pubhc schools of 
Baltimore and " The Friends School," 
gave to him all the schooling he ever 
had; nature gave him his ability, and his 
Quaker antecedents helped supply the 
principles and character that were to be 
a staff and stay to that ability in the trials 
that awaited him. It was the night class 
he attended at the Institute. His days 
were spent in the office of an architect, just 
as later, in New York, he supported himself 
by portrait work during the day, in crayon 
and in water color, for photographers. 
Only the night was left for the pursuit of 
his studies at the National Academy of 
Design. Turner went to New York in 
1872 without money and without friends, 
and with only a meagre training. His 
work in the life class of the National 
Academy of Design was soon given 
honorable mention. During the second 
and third years a bronze medal of the 
Academy came to him and a money prize 
with which he bought his first kit for 
work in oil. On holidays and at odd 



times he threw aside his portrait work and 
painted outdoor nature. He was active 
in organizing the Art Student's League in 
New York in 1875, ^^^ ^^^ thrice chosen 
its president. 

The important step in Turner's career 
was his departure for Paris in August, 1878. 
That start for France at the age of twenty- 
eight, an age when reading, social chat, 
reflection, and the sight of the treasures 
that have drifted to our shores from 
France have all combined to inform the 
mind of the riches that await one there ! 
But what previous fancies can adequately 
picture the real Paris ? The charm of the 
sky, of the beautiful streets, and the 
absorbingly interesting tide of life that 
flows through them ; the melancholy 
beauty of the old, centering in the 
Musee de Cluny, the equal beauty of 
the new, radiating from the Luxembourg ! 
And the Louvre ! The Louvre that en- 
closes in its walls the whole story of man's 
artistic endeavor from the picture writing 
and rude carvings of primitive men and the 
hardly less clumsy sculptures of Assyria 

13 



and Egypt, through the unaccountably 
developed perfection of the Greeks, 
through the decadent Romans, and 
through the Renaissance, down to the 
work of our own time ! 

And let me pause here to break a lance 
in behalf of this work of our own time 
which we are prone to belittle. Whilst in 
sculpture there is little this side of the 
Greeks that completely satisfies one, — the 
masterpieces of Michael Angelo and Barye 
excepted — in painting we of today are not 
found wanting. 

Occasionally nature leaps a thousand 
years ahead and produces an Aristotle, a 
Rembrandt, a Shakespeare, or a Wagner. 
Such men belong not to their generation, 
but are waves from the unknown flung 
far beyond the highest height of ordinary 
human powers, perhaps to intimate to us 
what the future man may be. Such aside, 
the painters of France and Holland and 
Spain in the past few generations have 
produced canvasses which, in point of 
drawing and truth and content, are not 
inferior to the average work of any 



generation that has gone before. True, 
there existed during the Renaissance a 
religious enthusiasm which reflected it- 
self in painting, an enthusiasm which is 
lacking today. But our age has its ideals 
too. " Cyrano de Bergerac," for exam- 
ple, could hardly have been written a 
century ago. In point of altruism and 
humanity our own age is not surpassed by 
any that has preceded it, and these ideals 
express themselves in the art of today. 
Take such a painting as that of Dagnan- 
Bouveret picturing peasants in the autumn 
wood taking their mid-day morsel beside 
the great tree they have felled, their faces 
upturned to the woodman who stands, 
with wrapt expression, playing his violin. 
Here is a moment of poetry in the life 
of the wood-chopper; the thread that 
binds this humble group to all the great 
things of the past and of the future. Jean 
Francois Millet, despite his note of social- 
ism, how full of humanity ! L'Hermitte 
portraying the more dignified side of labor 
in the crowded city marketplace, as well 
as on the farm ; seeing, as Furness said in 

15 



another connection, the waving field of 
grain as well as the plowed land and real- 
izing that " the waving grain is no less a fact 
in the landscape." Where in the old masters 
are greater themes ? In the Dutch painters 
of other centuries we find technique and 
power, but it is chiefly the vulgar side of 
life they picture. Which of them com- 
pares in tenderness and humanity with 
their countryman of today, Joseph Israel? 
But we left Turner in Paris. That first 
view of Paris and its treasures, how few 
experiences in life compare with it ! Inter- 
est in the gay and beautiful panorama about 
one is heightened by the full background 
of the city's stirring history : the passion, 
the purpose, the genius and the contribu- 
tion of this people to progress. So human 
this life of Paris, so perversely human if 
you will, but crowded with the records of 
the highest achievements of the mind, and 
containing, too, many a page, less noticed 
perhaps and less sought by the critic, of 
faith that was kept and daily task heroic- 
ally born, of family ties cherished and fos- 
tered, and of intense devotion to the State. 

16 



The young American artist who was set 
down among all this was of a discerning 
mind. He selected as his first master no 
less a painter than Jean Paul Laurens. 
Presently, in company with other young 
painters, he organized the Munkacsy 
atelier and felt himself growing under 
the criticism and leading of the great 
Hungarian. 

But Turner was to taste the bitter with 
the sweet. All this while he had con- 
tinued to support himself by painting 
portraits for photographers at home. 
Now, a misunderstanding over the terms 
of a contract tied up his revenue and he 
learned to know what it was to be very 
poor. In order to continue his studies 
he restricted himself to a diet of oatmeal, 
which was not even freshly cooked each 
day. To economize fuel, sufficient was 
cooked at one time to last a week, and 
for six weeks our Baltimore boy lived in 
Paris at an outlay for food of six cents 
per day. When his revenue came back 
he ran oflF to Holland. It was on this 
trip that he began work on his " Grand 

»7 



Canal Dordrecht," which later proved his 
first successful painting in oil. Dissatis- 
fied with his original rendering of the 
subject, he destroyed the canvas, returned 
to Holland during the ensuing summer, 
and painted the picture anew. 

His last year in Paris was spent in the 
atelier of Leon Bonnat. A happier selec- 
tion of teachers than Laurens, Munkacsy 
and Bonnat, Turner could hardly have 
made ; they differ so in style, and each 
is such a master in his way. Munkacsy 
has been called one of the greatest tech- 
nicians of his century. We all know the 
rich coloring and the vigorous brush work 
in his pictures, and this quality is reflected 
in the work of his American pupil. Un- 
like Meissonier he worked very rapidly, 
having been known to finish a good sized 
canvas in a day. 

Turner brought home with him one 
painting, " The Coppersmith," made in 
Munkacsy's studio, which is full of the 
spirit of that master. 

On his return from Paris in 1881 his 
whole wealth was still in the sketches and 

18 



training he brought with him, and in a 
certain reputation for good work done 
abroad. The last secured for him a 
position as teacher in the Art Students' 
League. But now came a demand from 
the artists for work from his brush done 
at home. "It's all very well to do these 
things abroad;" said they, "let's see what 
you can do here." Dreams of the past 
then came back to him and took shape in 
the serious and beautiful painting "The 
Days That Are No More." The paint- 
ing represents a young widow and her 
boy surmounting the stile of a church- 
yard, with a bit of sombre landscape 
about them. The theme was suggested 
to his mind by Tennyson's lines : 

" Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean. 
Tears from the depth of some divine despair 
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes. 
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields, 
And thinking of the days that are no more. ' ' 

The painting made a profound impres- 
sion, but for some years did not find a 
purchaser. One man said to him, "Turner, 
I love that picture, but it calls up such a 
flood of memories I wouldn't dare place 

»9 



it in my home." It was sent to the 
Paris Exhibition of 1886, where it received 
honorable mention. 

During the same year, his first year at 
home, he painted the " Dordrecht Milk- 
maid." This picture was one of four 
water colors constituting his first exhibit 
at the exhibition of the Water Color 
Society in February, 1882. All four 
pictures were sold at good prices. How 
much the results of this exhibition meant 
to him ! To return to his native land, his 
powers untried, and to sell all his pictures 
at his first exhibit ! Here was a triumph. 
It spelled recognition. It meant that the 
young artist's faith in himself was to be 
strengthened, and there is much truth in 
the epigram, " belief is a rule of conduct." 
Shortly afterward, at the Academy Exhibi- 
tion, Turner sold his " Grand Canal Dord- 
recht." 

His career since has been by no means 
all smooth sailing, but the encouragement 
received during this first year at home was 
calculated to carry him a long way. 

For many years critics went back to 



the "Dordrecht Milkmaid" and to the 
" Days That Are No More " as the 
notable pictures of the Academy, and as 
two of Turner's best productions. He 
became a member of the Water Color 
Society, of the Society of American 
Artists, and soon afterwards was chosen 
to the Academy. About this time, too, 
he helped form the Salmagundi Club and 
accepted its presidency. But with his 
executive ability, of which he has dis- 
played not a little, we are not concerned, 
except in so far as it has been a drawback 
to him in throwing upon him too much 
practical work to the neglect of his pro- 
fession. The same is true of his capacity 
for teaching, which drew large classes. 
This sort of work grew until he was 
doing too much of it. 

Fortunately, just at this point, the 
mariner consulted his compass and chart 
and realized that he had been drifting. 
With this discovery began a period of 
his happiest work, of which we would 
indeed like to see more. I refer to the 
series of pictures, so truly American in 



21 



spirit, portraying New England scenes 
and stories of colonial days. The first of 
these was the " Courtship of Miles Stand- 
Ish " with which we are familiar through 
the etching made by James S. King. If 
Turner had any ambition to accumulate 
money it was here that he made the mis- 
take of his life. He received ^1300 for 
the painting and copyright, while the etch- 
ing has already brought to the publishers 
a profit of more than $30,000 and the end 
Is not yet. " John Alden's Letter " and 
"The Bridal Procession" are two other 
pictures in this group Illustrating so 
charmingly the story of Miles Standish. 
The latter painting, which has now found 
a home in the Metropolitan Museum, was 
etched by Turner himself; but the etching 
proved too large for popular demand. A 
series of less important pictures and por- 
traits In oil and water color followed, and 
he continued to occupy himself from time 
to time with etching. The usual prizes 
and medals at the Academy and at various 
expositions now came to him. Presently 
we find him turning his attention to a new 



and important field, that of mural painting. 
There is something jarring and inap- 
propriate about a picture in a gilt frame 
hung with a lot of other pictures on 
a wall. The artist who paints such a pic- 
ture never knows where it is to go, and 
may or may not hit upon a note which 
will be in harmony with the surroundings. 
Quite different is it with the mural painter. 
Painting is finding its true scope when 
it is made part and parcel of the room 
through provision having been made 
for it in the architectural scheme of the 
room. A mural painting properly adapted 
to its surroundings does not obtrude 
itself — the eye rests upon it as it rests 
on the drooping branch of a great tree, 
noting it as a pleasurable detail, but as 
part of a whole. Turner himself says, 
"When the decoration becomes more 
prominent than the object decorated, it is 
bad decoration. The object must not be 
smothered, and the original form lost. 
When we come to mural painting the 
picture should neither project from the 
wall nor make a hole in the wall. Such 

23 



treatment would be as false as making 
the figures in a carpet stand up so promi- 
nently as to cause us to experience a sense 
of striking against them as we walk." 

The knowledge of architectural design 
which Turner had acquired in the early 
days in Baltimore now helped him greatly 
to a realization of the needs of his new 
work. His first important production, 
"The Triumph of Manhattan," gave him 
at once a position as a mural painter. 
His love of the beautiful appears here in 
coloring and in the graceful figures deline- 
ated. Interest in the picture is heightened 
by the introduction of portraits of promi- 
nent characters in our early history, among 
them Franklin,Washington Irving, Morse, 
Fulton and thefirstChiefJustice, John Jay. 
It is highly interesting to compare this 
painting with the noted" Hemicycle" of 
Paul Delaroche. The advance in mural 
painting is manifest in quietness of tone, 
in absence of crowding, and in the natural- 
ness of grouping. 

Extensive mural decorations in the Hotel 
Astoria, an interesting representation of 

24 



the settlement of Martinique placed in 
the lobby of the Hotel Martinique, and 
the " Departure of the Raleigh Expedi- 
tion " painted for the Hotel Raleigh in 
Washington, all gave him further experi- 
ence in mural work before he received his 
first commission for Baltimore. 

Our painter has had his disappoint- 
ments as well as his successes. He was 
awarded the second prize in the competi- 
tion for the decoration of the Court of 
Oyer and Terminer in New York, and in 
1896 got second prize in competition with 
thirty-nine other artists for the decoration 
of the Chamber of Common Council in 
Philadelphia. This latter was an ambi- 
tious and meritorious composition, and 
the money prize which Turner received 
was little recompense for the keen dis- 
appointment he experienced in not being 
commissioned to carry out the work. 

Another disappointment came to him 
when he was made assistant director of 
decoration at the Chicago Exposition 
under the promise that he himself should 
do one of the decorations, which promise 
was not fulfilled. His experience there 

25 



proved of value, however, when he was 
selected to take charge of the color scheme 
of the exposition buildings at Buffalo. A 
big problem was set for him at Buffalo. 
His task was to preserve and enhance 
what the architect had sought to do, and, 
at the same time, to fit in each edifice with 
its surroundings. This was playing with 
color on a giant scale. To keep the color 
scheme harmonious called for artistic 
ability of no mean order. 

Few things have been a source of greater 
satisfaction to Turner than his commissions 
for decorations in the Baltimore Court- 
house. It had been his ambition for 
many years to do something important in 
his native city. Consequently he took 
up his work for the Courthouse with 
the keenest interest, and the completed 
lobby that adjoins this hall testifies to the 
measure of his success. An unusually 
rich setting was already provided. He 
profited by this, keyed his painting to it, 
and we now have in the result a lobby 
than which it would be difficult to find 
anywhere a thing of its kind more com- 
pletely satisfying. 

26 



And what satisfaction there must be to 
the painter himself in work of this kind ! 
The heroic scale of such painting and 
high ideas with which the painter is deal- 
ing, the quest of beauty, the interpretation 
of truth in the form of allegory or in the 
representation of a stirring historical epi- 
sode ! To him who believes with Mat- 
thew Arnold that happiness consists not 
in being and having, but in acquiring and 
becoming, the activities of the mural 
painter who is sure of himself and who is 
executing some public work of a high order 
are indeed enviable. 

William St. John Harper says of 
Turner : 

" In his conception of the province of 
mural painting Mr. Turner distinctly 
recognizes the essential unity of the arts. 
He thoroughly accepts the dictum of 
Michael Angelo, who, when asked by a 
pupil, * Master, which is the greatest of 
the arts ? ' replied, ' I know of but one 
art.' From this point of view the first 
thought of the painter called upon to 
beautify and enrich a given space of wall 
surface must be to so harmonize and 

27 



adapt his painting to the architectural 
conditions and environment already exist- 
ing that his portion of the work shall take 
its place as a part and parcel of the com- 
pleted whole." 

Some persons have asked why the 
ship " Peggy Stewart," the center of inter- 
est, does not appear more prominently 
in Turner's latest decoration. The answer 
is that the artist preferred to suggest the 
burning of the ship rather than show it 
in all its detail. Just as language is 
incapable of expressing our thoughts in 
all their fullness, so painting is limited in 
the circumference of its possibilities. The 
most stimulating writer is he who makes 
us think. Just so the painter may sug- 
gest something outside the picture, and 
having stimulated the imagination, achieve 
in this way larger results than by full and 
minute portrayal. 

In the silk pictures which come to us 
from Japan, the fact that the moon is 
risen is depicted more effectively by the 
sheen on reeds and water and on the 
snowy top of Fusijama than would be 
possible were the white orb itself em- 
broidered in the sky. 
28 



I shall not attempt to fix Turner's place 
among the painters of today. Such an 
attempt could serve no useful purpose. 
Nor is there any need of dwelling upon 
his personality: he is so well known in 
Baltimore. But I should like to refer to 
a little episode which may have its inter- 
est. One day last year Turner tired of 
his brush and palette and resolved to have 
a trip, nothing less than a wedding trip. 
The extent of it was a journey on the 
boat from Baltimore to Philadelphia with 
a stop of several days at Betterton. Mark 
you, Turner was born in 1850, and it was 
not until 1903 that his courage rose to 
the point of sailing from our port on a 
wedding trip. It was in truth a sister 
and not a wife whom he took with him 
on this make-believe wedding trip. But 
the group they found at the inn at Bet- 
terton were quick to enter into the spirit 
of the adventure. Remarks of different 
kinds were directed at the couple at meals, 
and when they were about to leave the 
greatest attention was shown them. One 
man insisted that he be allowed to do 
something for them. Turner knew of 
nothing he could do, but the man per- 

29 



sisted and finally said, "Can't I carry 
your umbrella to the boat?" "Very 
well," said Turner, "carry the umbrella." 
Another volunteered to take his port- 
manteau. There was some delay in the 
arrival of these articles on the steamer, 
but they finally came, the portmanteau 
with a large white bow attached, and the 
umbrella filled with rice. An old gentle- 
man on the steamer nudged the supposed 
groom and said, "Well, young man, its 
worth it all, eh?" The pictures of this 
bachelor painter reveal the fact that he too 
has had his dreams, and beneath the humor- 
ous elements in this story of the make- 
believe wedding trip there resides some- 
thing fine and appealing. Charles Lamb 
might have made just such a wedding trip. 
The paintings that are being placed upon 
the walls of our Courthouse, and the 
statues we are erecting in the streets, are 
not for beauty alone, though that would 
constitute a sufficient excuse for their 
being. They are there to help inculcate 
and perpetuate ideals. James Ward of 
Cambridge said in his discourse in Bal- 

30 



timore a few days ago that, " Philoso- 
phy has retained ideals of which even 
religion has more than once lost sight." 
William Osier in his address on " Im- 
mortality," dwells upon the way in which 
ideals are handed on by the little band 
that lead the life. Both are right, and 
they will probably admit that we are right 
when we say that powerful vehicles for the 
transmission of ideals are likewise the pub- 
lic monuments of every kind, whether the 
glowing canvas or chiseled bronze or mar- 
ble column, that perpetuate the memory of 
faithful performance, or memorable deeds 
in the service of men, whether in public or 
private station. 

The Municipal Art Society, Mr. Mayor, 
now begs to present this decoration to you 
as the representative of the city. 




3» 



TResponee 

OF 

E. Clay Timanus 



IResponse ot B. Cla^ XTimanus 

TT is with great pleasure that I accept 
this beautiful painting on behalf of the 
municipality. 

The event here so well depicted by the 
artist's brush is one of the foremost events 
in the history of our State. We were 
then a colony, and at the beginning of 
the struggle for the independence we 
enjoy today, and which has made of the 
United States one of the greatest powers 
in the world. This painting, then, while 
local in character so far as Maryland is 
concerned, has a national, if not a world- 
wide, interest attached to it. It is a 
picture to which we may always point 
with special pride. It will freshen our 
minds as we look upon it, and make all 
the keener our interest in colonial history 
and in the brave, heroic struggles of our 
forefathers. 

It is fitting that we should have such 
paintings on the walls of our most beauti- 
ful building. The early history of Mary- 
land cannot fail to attract and hold the 
interest of people, because it is a glorious 

35 



history. I am afraid, sometimes, that our 
own people do not appreciate it as they 
should. These paintings will help them. 
They will help also to educate the young, 
and therefore are far more valuable than 
we might think. School children must 
take a deeper interest in their studies of 
history after they have seen the paintings 
the Municipal Art Society and the city of 
Baltimore have placed upon the walls of 
this great building. 

The pictures will in fact attract visitors, 
who cannot fail to carry away with them 
to their homes impressions of Baltimore 
that will grow and spread. It is just such 
buildings as this and such pictures as these 
that attract strangers to a city, and in pro- 
viding them we are not only helping our 
city, but we are really and truly helping 
to educate the people. 

We take pride in pointing out the beau- 
ties of our Courthouse to visitors. These 
paintings help to beautify the building and 
make it more interesting to us and to them. 

The Courthouse Commission is to be 
commended for the building it has given 

36 



Baltimore, and the Municipal Art Society 
deserves and should receive the commenda- 
tion and thanks of our people for what it 
has done, and still is doing, toward the 
beautification of Baltimore and its fore- 
most building. Such efforts have my 
hearty approval, and as Mayor will have 
my hearty co-operation at all times. 



37 



'^bc •flnct^ent" 

address of 
Edwin Warfield 





(mim 

'*Zbc 1lnci&cnt" 

TAKE this occasion as a 
Marylander and as Chief 
Executive of this State to 
express my appreciation of 
what the Municipal Art 
Society of Baltimore and the Courthouse 
Commission are doing to commemorate 
important colonial and revolutionary events 
in Maryland, through the mural decora- 
tions in this our new and splendid Court- 
house. We have assembled today to un- 
veil one that depicts one of the most 
heroic of those events. 

The burning of the " Peggy Stewart " 
has been recalled in a realistic style by 
Mr. Turner, who has in this and other 
similar works demonstrated his high artis- 
tic skill and genius. It is gratifying to 
know that he is a native of Maryland. 



41 



The causes leading up to this overt act 
of the colonists of Maryland against British 
authority are well known. The colonists 
exhausted every possible means of redress 
against taxation without representation ; 
and having vainly tried peaceful remon- 
strances, determined to resort again to 
non-importations which had been adopted 
in the days of the Stamp Act. They united 
in forming associations to carry out this 
resolve. 

In 1770 a British bark arrived in the 
harbor of Annapolis with a cargo of the 
obnoxious dutiable articles. The citizens 
of Maryland calmly assembled, and in the 
presence of the Governor and other pro- 
vincial officers, discussed and set at defiance 
the objectionable act, and decided to pre- 
vent the landing of the cargo. 

This bold stand brought the English 
merchants to their senses, and caused 
them to resolve not to bring prohibited 
goods to Maryland. 

The British Ministry, alarmed by the 
determined position of the colonists, agreed 
to repeal duties on all articles except tea, 

42 



and carried out this agreement by an Act 
of Parliament in April, 1770. 

New York merchants, " yielding to that 
spirit of money-getting which has since 
made their city the commercial emporium 
of the continent, immediately thereafter 
began to desert their associations." Phila- 
delphia followed ; and several merchants 
of Baltimore resolved that they would 
import the articles by that Act released 
from duty. 

Delegates from the counties of Mary- 
land met at Annapolis and, instead of 
yielding their assent to the proposition 
that the merchants be released from their 
promise not to import any articles from 
the parent country, declared they would 
hold no communication with any mer- 
chant who should import such articles. 

Thus, while the people of the cities 
broke away from the non-importation 
associations, those of the country re- 
mained firm. They proclaimed the mer- 
chants of New York, Philadelphia and 
Baltimore as faithless to their pledges, and 
traitors to the cause of liberty. 

43 



McSherry very aptly says, " Patriotism, 
too often venal and interested in cities, 
flourishes most vigorously in the pure 
air of the country." 

The young colonists of the western 
frontier of our State became the Sons of 
Liberty, and were the most determined 
advocates of freedom from British tyranny. 
Their enthusiasm and vigorous attitude 
forced their more conservative kinspeople 
of the tidewater towns of the State to 
accept their views and to join with them 
in their stand for independence. 

Such was the spirit in Maryland, when 
on October 17th, 1774, the brig " Peggy 
Stewart " arrived at Annapolis from Lon- 
don, with over a ton of tea, that plant 
so detested by every patriotic colonist. 
Upon examination it was found that the 
importation was projected by Williams 
and Stewart, merchants, and that Mr. 
Anthony Stewart, proprietor of the ves- 
sel, had paid duty thereon. This was 
considered a flagrant violation of the 
non-importation agreement, and aroused 
a bitter resentment upon the part of the 

44 



citizens of Annapolis, who at once 
appointed a committee to prevent the 
landing of the tea until the sense of the 
country people could be fully ascertained. 
Handbills, under the direction of Mathias 
Hammond, were distributed throughout 
the country, calling upon all patriotic 
citizens to assemble in Annapolis on 
Wednesday, October 19th, for the pur- 
pose of taking final action. 

Mr. Stewart, being apprehensive as to 
what so numerous a body from the 
country, from whom he had much to fear, 
might do, urged that the meeting of the 
citizens of Annapolis be held on the 
Monday previous. It was also proposed 
by some that Messrs. Williams and Stew- 
art, who were desirous of making atone- 
ment for the offence they had committed, 
might be permitted to land and burn the 
tea at any place that should be appointed 
for that purpose. 

This motion, however, was strongly 
opposed. Messrs. Williams and Stewart, 
acknowledging the impropriety of their 
act, signed an apology couched in the 
most abject terms. 

45 



On Wednesday, as expected, a large 
number of people from the country dis- 
tricts assembled in Annapolis, and to the 
assembled multitude this apology was read. 
But it failed to satisfy the country people. 
Mr. Stewart, because of his ready and 
cheerful compliance with an abhorred act 
of the British Government, was specially 
obnoxious to them. Some were disposed 
to tar and feather him. Others were in 
favor of the destruction of the brig which 
had brought the hated commodity ; still 
others declared that the paper signed by 
the defenders was sufficient punishment 
and satisfaction. 

To determine this point, it was pro- 
posed that a vote be taken on this ques- 
tion : Whether the vessel should or should 
not be destroyed ? 

Seven-eighths of those present voted 
against such violent measures. The mi- 
nority, however, who were chiefly persons 
residing at a distance from Annapolis, and 
who were men of great influence in their 
home neighborhoods, declared a deter- 
mination to proceed to the utmost ex- 
tremities. 

46 



Mr. Stewart became alarmed, fearing 
the consequences from the minority, and 
to secure his own personal safety, pro- 
posed setting fire, himself, to the vessel. 
This was immediately assented to by the 
minority. 

He, therefore, repaired on board, accom- 
panied by several gentlemen of the minority y 
who thought it necessary to attend him, 
and having directed her to be run aground 
near Windmill Point, he put the torch to 
his valuable property, and in a few hours, 
it, with its sails, cordage and every appur- 
tenance and load was effectually burned. 

Thus briefly as possible I have given 
you the account of the burning of the 
" Peggy Stewart." Who was the ring- 
leader of that fearless minority which 
forced Stewart to set fire to his vessel and 
compelled the majority, composed of resi- 
dents of Annapolis and the immediate 
vicinity, to acquiesce ? 

It was Dr. Charles Alexander Warfield. 
He led that small band of patriots from 
the back hills, who were determined to 
give evidence of the spirit that prevailed 

47 



in Maryland, and to teach the British 
Government what resistance it would 
meet if it persisted in taxing the people 
of the colonies without their consent. 

The patriotic societies of the country- 
have aroused a deep interest in the colo- 
nial and revolutionary periods and have 
been instrumental in bringing to light 
from family chests, the records of many 
important events; and it gives me great 
pleasure to testify that it was through 
the efforts of the Sons and Daughters 
of the American Revolution in this State, 
that the true history of the burning of 
"Peggy Stewart" has been developed. 

The Centennial Celebration of the burn- 
ing of" Peggy Stewart," held in Annapolis, 
October 19th, 1874, attracted widespread 
attention and recalled vividly that stirring 
event. It revived the recollections of Dr. 
Evan W. Warfield and called from him 
a statement of great historic value, accom- 
panied by a publication which appeared in 
the Baltimore Patriot in 18 13, immedi- 
ately after the death of Dr. Charles Alex- 
ander Warfield. As these have such an 
immediate bearing upon the subject I am 
discussing, I will read them : 

48 



THE JNNJPOLIS TEA BURNING. 

The Centennial Celebration of the burning of the 
"Peggy Stewart" recently held in Annapolis not 
only attracted the attention of the people of Maryland 
but of the entire country, and called forth many garbled 
and conflicting accounts as to who was the perpetrator 
of that then perilous and treasonable violation of the 
King's Authority but which the light of after events 
has made to glow upon the pages of history as one of 
the most heroic and patriotic deeds performed during 
the struggle for our Independence. In view of these 
facts I am glad to be enabled to throw some light upon 
that much mooted question. It was my good fortune, 
during a recent visit to " Longwood," the residence 
of the late Dr. Gustavus Warfield (son of Dr. Charles 
Alexander Warfield, the hero of the " Peggy Stewart ") 
to have my attention called to a communication to the 
Baltimore Patriot, published in the year 1 8 1 3 , which 
was preserved in an old scrap-book, a family history 
and record, that dates far back into colonial times, 
a relic of much value and interest. 

I immediately recognized the historic value of that 
old clipping for I realized that it would lift the cloud 
of uncertainty from one of the most important events 
in the history of our country. The authenticity of 
the communication is beyond a doubt and its truth will 
be evident to all readers. It was published immedi- 
ately after the death of Dr. Charles Alexander War- 
field, as a just tribute to his memory and as an 
acknowledgment of his patriotism and valor. Though 



49 



his name has long slumbered in oblivion, yet the one 
valorous and determined stand, in opposition to oppres- 
sion and tyranny, and the utterance of that noble senti- 
ment, "Liberty and Independence, or death in pur- 
suit of it," acted and uttered in those days that tried 
men's souls, entitled him to a deserving prominence in 
the history of his State and should be cherished by 
every true patriot as a conspicuous example of that love 
of Liberty and Justice which animated our forefathers 
and wrought our freedom. * * * 

Evan W. Warfield. 

The " old clipping " referred to was 
published in the Baltimore Patriot, shortly 
after the death of Dr. Warfield, January 
29th, 1 8 13. After touching upon the 
distinguished services of the venerable 
Charles Carroll of Carrollton, as chroni- 
cled in the Salem Register of September 
20th, it proceeds : 

•'There is, however, one circumstance connected 
with the Burning of the Tea at Annapolis that should 
not be forgotten, and in which a highly respected and 
valued friend of Mr. Carroll participated. 

♦•The late Dr. Charles Alexander Warfield, of 
Anne Arundel County, who but a short time before 
had professional honors in the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, and had been appointed Major of Battalion, upon 
hearing of the arrival of •• Peggy Stewart " at Annapolis, 
loaded with tea, and which vessel belonged to Mr. 

50 



Anthony Stewart, a Scotch merchant, put himself at 
the head of the < Whig Club * of which he was a dis- 
tinguished member, and marched to Annapolis with a 
determination to burn vessel and cargo. When the party 
arrived opposite the State House, the late Judge Chase 
met them and harangued them. ( He had been 
employed as a lawyer by Mr. Stewart.) 

** Dr. Warfield, finding that he was likely to make 
some impression upon the minds of his company, inter- 
rupted him by observing that Chase had by former 
patriotic speeches made to the ' Whig Club ' inflamed 
the whole country, and now wished to get off by his 
own light, and pronounced it submission and cowardice 
on (the part of) any member of the Club to stop short 
of their object, and called upon the men to follow him, 
that he, himself, would set fire to the vessel and cargo. 
But it is stated upon the best authority that the Doctor 
carried in his hand the chunk of fire in company with 
Stewart, whom he made to kindle it. 

"When the party first entered the city and was 
passing on, they met Stewart, who was bold in opposi- 
tion. But his threats only served to increase their 
determination. They erected a gallows directly before 
his house, by way of intimidation, then gave him his 
choice : either to swing by the halter or to go with 
them on board and put fire to his own vessel. He 
chose the latter, and in a few moments the whole 
cargo, with ship's tackle and apparel, was in flames. 

*' Shortly after this Mr. Stewart left the country. 
This act decided the course Maryland was to pursue, 

51 



and had an extensive influence upon public opinion. 
The writer of this sketch was in company with Judge 
Chase and Dr. Warfield, a few years before their 
death, and heard them converse upon the above sub- 
ject. Mr. Chase remarked, in a jocular manner, — 
« If we had not succeeded, Doctor, in the Revolutionary 
contest, both of us would have been hung: you for the 
burning of the shipload of tea and I for declaring I 
owed no allegiance to the King and signing the Declara- 
tion of Independence.' 

" There were other movements and occurrences 
attending this early expression of a Revolutionary spirit. 
Our departed friend, but a short time before he marched 
to the city of Annapolis to fire the tea, was parading in 
Anne Arundel County in the vicinity of Mr. Carroll's 
residence. He took upon himself the privilege of print- 
ing some labels with the following inscription: 

' Liberty and Independence, or, 
Death in pursuit of it. ' 

*' He placed one of these in the hat of each man of 
his company. Many of the older neighbors who were 
present were struck with astonishment and endeavored 
to persuade him to have them taken down, for the idea 
of Independence at that time had entered the minds of 
but few men. The venerable Mr. Carroll the elder, 
father to the present patriarch, rode up to the father of 
Dr. Charles Alexander Warfield, and exclaimed: ' My 
God, Mr. Warfield, what does your son Charles mean ? 
Does he know that he has committed treason against 
his King and may before long be prosecuted for a rebel ? ' 

52 



The father replied, with much animation and patriotism : 
* We acknowledge no King, the King is a traitor to us, 
and a period has arrived when we must either tamely 
submit to be slaves or struggle gloriously for Liberty 
and Independence. The King has become our enemy 
and we must become his. My son Charles knows 
what he is about. ** Liberty and Independence, or 
Death in pursuit of it " is his motto ; it is mine ; and 
soon it must be the sentiment of every man in our 
country.' 

"The mighty words, 'Treason against the King' 
sounded from one end of the Battalion to the other, 
and in a few moments not a label was to be seen in 
the hats of any of the men except Dr. Warfield and 
Mr. James Conner, late of Baltimore County, who 
were too stern and undaunted to be intimidated by 
words, and they wore their labels to their homes. 

Thus, those venerable patriots moved alternately 
between hope and fear, until they accomplished the great 
object of their labors. < Requiescat in Pace. ' ' ' 

Anxious to gather the traditions in the 
family of this patriot. Dr. Charles Alexan- 
der Warfield, I have frequently talked with 
Dr. Evan W. Warfield (author of the fore- 
going statement), and with Mrs. Sheppard 
and Miss Louisa V. Warfield, two of his 
sisters now living, and from their lips I 
have heard the family tradition in regard 

53 



to this event. The account which has 
thus been transmitted by word of mouth 
verifies the assertion made in the letter to 
the Patriot. 

Neighborhood tradition also verifies this 
family tradition. Captain Thomes Hobbs 
was one of the Whigs who went with Dr. 
Warfield to Annapolis. He said that he 
was present and heard Dr. Warfield in 
front of Mr. Stewart's door, say to him : 
" Mr. Stewart, we have come to require 
you to do one of two things, namely : go 
with us and burn your own vessel or hang 
before your own door." 

John Galloway, of Tulip Hill, Anne 
Arundel County, in a letter to his father 
on October 20th, 1774, the day after the 
burning of the vessel, gives an exceedingly 
interesting account of the incident in which 
he names Dr. Warfield as the ringleader 
of the minority.* 

Charles Alexander Warfield, whose im- 
migrant ancestor had settled in Maryland 
in 1660, was born on December 14th, 



* The letter is too lengthy to reproduce. It is printed in the 
Pennsyl-vania Magazine, volume 25, page 248. 

54 



1751* he was the son of Mr. Azel War- 
field. His mother was Sarah Griffith, 
daughter of Captain Charles Griffith. He 
graduated in medicine in Philadelphia and 
was married in 1771, when scarcely twenty- 
one years of age, to Elizabeth, daughter of 
Major Henry Ridgely, whose dower was 
Bushy Park, in Howard County, contain- 
ing thirteen hundred acres. 

Dr. Warfield became a leading citizen 
and physician of our State. He was of an 
ardent and determined nature and earn- 
estly opposed the impositions of England 
on her colonies. He had as his neigh- 
bors prominent, patriotic men, men who 
afterward figured in the Revolutionary 
Army. They were the Dorseys, the 
Griffiths, the Hobbs's, the Ridgeleys, 
the Riggs's, the Browns, the Gaithers, 
the Hammonds, the Watkins's, the Worth- 
ingtons, the Warfields — all of whom were 
imbued with the same spirit of freedom 
and stood by him in openly advocating 
a separation from the mother country, and 
backed him up in the heroic position he 
took in forcing the burning of " Peggy 

55 



Stewart." He was made First Major of 
the Elk Ridge Battalion in 1776. The 
Convention of Freemen voted him a sum 
of money for the purpose of carrying on 
the manufacture of nitre for the powder 
used by the soldiers of the Revolution. 
He was one of the founders of the Medi- 
cal and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland 
and First President of the Maryland 
School of Medicine. He died January 
29th, 1 8 13, and was buried at Bushy 
Park. His grave has been marked by 
the Maryland Society of the Sons of the 
American Revolution as that of a patriot. 
The Maryland Gazette^ published at An- 
napolis, gave editorial notice of his death, 
in the course of which appears the fol- 
lowing: 

*• Of such a man and such a loss it is difficult to 
speak in terms of adequate distinction and regret. His 
long established character, extensive usefulness and 
genuine hospitality had rendered the name of the 
deceased familiar throughout the State, and commanded 
a sentiment of general respect and esteem. 

Dr. Warfield was conspicuous among the earliest and 
most decided patriots of this State who espoused and 
supported the cause of Independence ; and he adhered 

56 



with his latest breath to those great principles of the 
Revolution which were established and illustrated by 
the valor and wisdom of Washington." 

McMahon, in his history of Maryland, 
says, — 

•* The tea burning at Boston has acquired renown, 
as an act of unexampled daring at that day in the 
defense of American Liberty. But the tea burning at 
Annapolis, which occurred in the ensuing Fall, far sur- 
passes it in the apparent deliberation and utter careless- 
ness of concealment attending the bold measures which 
led to its accomplishment. This instance, in its mani- 
festation of public feeling, is oi a character with those 
which occurred in other parts of the province, and they 
evince the prevalence throughout it of the most deter- 
mined and resistless opposition to the measures of the 
British Government." 




57 



letter of 

Charles Yardley Turner 

'describing the painting 



TN the mural painting, "The Burning of 
the Peggy Stewart," my purpose was 
to express the protest upon the part of 
Maryland's citizens against the oppression 
of the mother country. The burning ves- 
sel has been used as the symbol and out- 
ward manifestation of this protest against 
" taxation without representation." 

In the centre panel I have placed Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton as the leader of the 
" Committee of Safety ; " opposite him 
Dr. Warfield, the leader of the then 
called mob, with his followers behind 
him. Both groups are extended into 
the picture, terminating at the right in 
a group of ladies and gentlemen standing 
on the green near the Stewart mansion 
watching the conflagration, and, at the 
extreme left hand, with another group of 
citizens, Anthony Stewart, one of the 
principal actors in this drama, may be 
seen in shirt sleeves, having performed 
his part in firing his own vessel. 

The point of view is from a spot about 
where the present boathouse stands in 
the Annapolis Academy grounds, looking 
nearly east over the Chesapeake, called 
Windmill Point. 

6i 




11 

B. M. Blasbtiel^'s 
**1Reli9tou0 toleration*' 

unveiled at 

The Courthouse, October 19th 

1904 




**1Reltatou0 toleration*' 

address of 
Ira Remsen 





'*1ReltQious Uoleration" 

[E have come together to 
welcome another of those 
beautiful mural decorations, 
the possession of which we 
owe largely to the efforts of 
our Municipal Art Society. We are for- 
tunate in being able to meet in this beau- 
tiful building, of which every Baltimorean, 
I am sure, is proud. The architects have 
done their work well and Baltimore has 
expressed approval. We rejoice in the 
possession of this great monument. We 
are coming more and more to recognize 
the value of beauty. How it affects our 
lives it would be difficult to tell, but that 
it does affect them is certain. Gradually 
we are learning this important lesson. 
Gradually we are coming to feel the need 
of beauty in our buildings, and gradually 

67 



the character of these buildings is improv- 
ing. But a beautiful exterior may hide a 
less beautiful interior, and the interior is 
as important as the exterior. After the 
architect has done his work certain finish- 
ing touches are needed. The genius of the 
painter is called for to give these touches, 
and to-day, in this country, it is coming to 
be recognized more and more clearly that 
a fine building is not finished until its larger 
wall-spaces are covered with appropriate 
paintings. For the painting which is to 
be unveiled this evening, the artist has 
chosen as his subject, " Religious Tolera- 
tion." The central figure represents Lord 
Baltimore. Behind him stands a Catholic 
priest and a Protestant pastor holding 
between them the edict of toleration. As 
you will presently see, the details of the 
picture are in harmony with the central 
part and the whole is well calculated to 
impress strongly upon the mind of the 
beholder the significance of the event. 
Before taking the first view it will be well 
for us to recall exactly what the Act of 
Toleration was, and then, by taking into 

68 



consideration the condition of affairs at 
that time in the other colonies and in 
Europe, to try to form an opinion in 
regard to its real significance. 

It may be assumed that the history of 
the settlement of Maryland is familiar to 
this audience, and I shall not take your 
time by an account of the details. There 
are, however, certain facts of a general 
character that should be before us. George 
Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, was much 
interested in schemes for the colonization 
of the New World. In 1609 he was a 
member of the Virginia Company. In 
1622 he was one of the counsellors of 
the New England Company; and in 1623 
the king granted him a charter for what 
became the province of Avalon in New- 
foundland. But Avalon was a failure. 
The climate and the French were unfavor- 
able, and after the expenditure of a large 
sum of money on the project, Baltimore 
concluded to give it up and try somewhere 
else. He sailed for Virginia and looked 
into the condition of affairs at Jamestown. 
This was in 1629. His reception was 

69 



not cordial. The Governor and Council 
knew that he was looking for a place to 
establish a colony, and they objected to 
any interference with their own plans, 
especially as Baltimore was a Catholic. 
Notwithstanding this opposition the king 
finally granted a charter for a new colony 
to be established under the name of Mary- 
land, which included the territory lying 
immediately to the north of Virginia, and 
on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay. 
George, the first Lord Baltimore, died 
before all the ceremonies connected with 
the granting of the charter had been com- 
pleted, and it was issued in 1632 to his 
son Cecilius, second Lord Baltimore. 
Cecilius was therefore the first Lord Pro- 
prietary of Maryland. 

It will help us to form a judgment in 
regard to the character of the first Lord 
Baltimore to read part of a letter written 
by him to Lord Wentworth in 1 63 1 after 
the death of Wentworth's wife. He says : 
" But all things, my lord, in this world, 
pass away: statutum est; wife, children, 
honour, wealth, friends, and what else is 

70 



dear to flesh and blood. They are but 
lent us till God please to call for them 
back again, that we may esteem anything 
our own, or set our hearts upon anything 
but Him alone, who only remains forever. 
I beseech His almighty goodness to grant 
that your Lordship may, for His sake, 
bear the great cross with meekness and 
patience, whose only Son, our dear Lord 
and Saviour, bore a greater for you ; and 
to consider that these humiliations, though 
they be very bitter, yet are they sovereign 
medicines, ministered unto us by our 
heavenly Physician, to cure the sickness 
of our souls." It appears from this and 
the important fact that Lord Baltimore 
had originally joined the Roman Catholic 
Church as a convert that he was of a 
strongly religious turn of mind. 

The charter gave the Lord Proprietary 
these powers : 

" The Patronages and Advowsons of 
all Churches, which shall happen to be 
built, together with licence and faculty of 
erecting and founding Churches, Chapels, 
and places of worship * * * and of causing 

7« 



the same to be dedicated and constituted 
according to the ecclesiastical Laws of the 
Kingdom of England, with all and singu- 
lar such and as ample rights, privileges, 
sovereignties, &c. * * * as any Bishop of 
Durham." This left it to the Lord Pro- 
prietary to establish whatever church he 
chose. He had practically complete con- 
trol. His personal interests were those 
of the Roman Catholic Church. At that 
time, it will be remembered. Catholics 
were subjected to many forms of persecu- 
tion in England. Baltimore evidently 
wished to prevent these conditions in the 
colony and it appears that he promised 
his colonists that they should not be 
interfered with on account of their re- 
ligious beliefs. A letter of Charles, third 
Lord Baltimore, written in 1678 throws 
much light on this subject. He wrote : 
" At the first planting of this Province by 
my father albeit he had an absolute liberty 
given him and his heirs to carry thither 
any persons out of any of the dominions 
that belonged to the Crown of England 
who should be found willing to go thither, 

72 



yet when he came to make use of this 
liberty, he found very few who were 
indined to go and seat themselves in 
those parts, but such as for some reason 
or other could not live with ease in other 
places ; and of these a great part were 
such as could not conform in all particu- 
lars to the several laws of England relating 
to religion. Many there were of this sort 
of people who declared their willingness 
to go and plant themselves in this Province 
so they might have a general toleration 
settled there by a law by which all sorts 
who professed Christianity in general 
might be at liberty to worship God in 
such manner as was most agreeable with 
their respective judgments and consciences, 
without being subject to any penalties 
whatsoever for their so doing, provided 
the civil peace were preserved ; and that 
for the securing the civil peace and pre- 
venting all heats and feuds which were 
generally observed to happen amongst 
such as differ in opinions, upon occasion 
of reproachful nicknames and reflecting 
upon each others opinions, it might by 

73 



the same law be made penal to give any 
offence in that kind. These were the 
conditions proposed by such as were will- 
ing to go and be the first planters of this 
Province, and without complying with 
these conditions in all probability this 
Province had never been planted. To 
these conditions my father agreed, and 
accordingly soon after the first planting of 
this Province these conditions by the 
unanimous consent of all who were con- 
cerned were passed into a law; and the 
inhabitants of this Province have found 
such effects from this law and from the 
strict observance of it, as well in relation 
to their quiet, as in relation to the further 
peopling of this Province, that they look 
upon it as that whereon alone depends 
the preservation of their peace, their 
properties and their Hberties." 

In the light of this letter it is not 
surprising to find that Cecilius took early 
steps to prevent trouble between Protes- 
tants and Catholics. In a letter of in- 
structions addressed to those who were 
in charge during the voyage he directed 

74 



that in order to preserve peace and unity 
among the passengers, and to avoid all 
occasion of scandal or offence, they cause 
all acts of the Roman Catholic religion to 
be performed as privately as possible, and 
that the Roman Catholics be instructed 
upon all occasions of religious discussion 
to remain silent, and that they treat the 
Protestants with as much favor as justice 
would permit. This to be done on land 
as well as sea. 

When the Maryland Colonists landed 
on St. Clements Island, March 25th, 
1634, they erected a cross made of a tree, 
celebrated mass, and took solemn posses- 
sion of the country "for our Saviour and 
for our Sovereign Lord the King of Eng- 
land." One of the historians of Mary- 
land calls this day the "birthday of a free 
people, worthy of commemoration to the 
latest day of their existence." It would 
be interesting and profitable to follow our 
colony year after year and to see how they 
fared under the new conditions. All was 
not smooth sailing. They had many 
troubles. That is only natural, as they 

75 



were dealing with a new problem under 
extremely difficult conditions, and, further, 
they themselves were human and subject 
to the limitations of human nature. The 
seed of religious toleration was sown. It 
developed slowly but at last in 1649 ^^^ 
Maryland Colonists passed the Act of 
Toleration. What was this famous Act ? 
In the preamble it was declared that in 
a Christian commonwealth matters con- 
cerning religion and the honor of God 
ought in the first place to be taken into 
serious consideration and settled. The 
Act then proceeded to provide that who- 
ever should blaspheme God, deny that 
the Saviour Jesus Christ was the Son of 
God, or deny the divinity of either person 
of the Holy Trinity, should be punished 
with death and confiscation of lands and 
goods ; that reproachful words concerning 
the Blessed Virgin Mary or any of the 
Apostles or Evangelists, should be pun- 
ished by fine, and in default thereof by 
whipping and imprisonment, with in- 
creased punishment for the second offence, 
and banishment and forfeiture for a third; 

76 



that the using of reproachful names towards 
any person, whether inhabitants, or persons 
trading in the Province, on account of 
rehgion, such as calling one a Heretic, 
Schismatic, Idolator, Puritan, Independ- 
ent, Presbyterian, Popish Priest, Jesuit, 
Papist, Lutheran, Calvinist, Anabaptist, 
Brownist, Antinomian, Barrowist, Round- 
head and Separatist, or any other name or 
term relating to religion in a reproachful 
manner should be punished by fine, and 
in default thereof by whipping and im- 
prisonment until the offender should 
ask forgiveness publicly of the person 
aggrieved ; that profaning of the Sabbath 
or Lord's Day, called Sunday, by frequent 
swearing, drunkenness, or uncivil or dis- 
orderly recreation, or by labor, except in 
case of necessity, should be punished by 
fine, increasing in amount with repetition 
of the offence ; and in default of fine, by 
imprisonment for the first and second 
offences, until acknowledgment of the 
fault before a magistrate, with whipping 
for each subsequent offence." 

The Act then continued with a second 
preamble, and recited that " Whereas the 

n 



enforcing of the conscience in matters of 
religion hath frequently fallen out to be of 
dangerous consequence in those common- 
wealths in which it hath been practised, 
and for the more quiet and peaceable 
government of this Province, and the 
better to preserve mutual love and amity 
amongst the inhabitants thereof," it was 
further enacted by the Lord Proprietary 
with the advice and consent of the Assem- 
bly, that no person or persons whatsoever 
within the Province, professing to believe 
in Jesus Christ, should from henceforth 
be any ways troubled, molested or dis- 
countenanced, for or in respect of his or 
her religion, nor in the free exercise thereof 
within this Province or the Islands there- 
unto belonging, nor any way compelled 
to the belief or exercise of any other 
religion against his or her consent so as 
they be not unfaithful to the Lord Pro- 
prietary, or molest or conspire against the 
civil government. Punishment was pro- 
vided for violations of this provision by 
fine, and damages to the person wronged. 

78 



An act of this kind would hardly be 
regarded at present as providing a high 
degree of toleration, but it must be borne 
in mind that the conditions that existed 
in the middle of the seventeenth century 
were quite different from those that exist 
today. The religious troubles of that 
time were due to the relations between 
the Catholics and Protestants. So far as 
the New World is concerned the Jewish 
faith was not involved, nor did Unitarian- 
ism play any part in the religious affairs 
of that day. The colonists were, nomi- 
nally at least, Christians, and if peace 
could be kept between the different kinds 
of Christians, the problem was solved. 
The Act of Toleration, judged by the 
standards of the seventeenth century, 
marks a decided advance, and it appears 
to be worthy of most of the praise that 
has been lavished upon it. However 
imperfect the Act may appear to us the 
fact remains that it dealt effectively with 
the chief religious problem that then 
called for solution at the hands of those 

79 



charged with the affairs of government in 
the Province of Maryland. From this 
Province no one, so far as can be learned, 
has ever been excluded by reason of his 
religious belief, and it is certain that no 
one within her boundaries has ever suf- 
fered death for this reason. 

Since the passage of the Act there have 
been times when efforts were made to 
counteract its effects. So long as the 
Lord Proprietary was in control these 
efforts were not successful. In 1654, 
when certain Commissioners of the Com- 
monwealth which had been established in 
England were in command, an Act of 
Assembly was passed, the principal pro- 
vision of which was " that none who 
profess and exercise the popish religion, 
commonly known by the name of the 
Roman Catholic religion, can be protected 
in this Province by the laws of England 
formerly established and yet unrepealed, 
nor by the Government of the Common- 
wealth of England and Scotland and 
Ireland, and the Dominions thereunto 

80 



belonging, published by his Highness 
the Lord Protector, but are to be re- 
strained from the exercise thereof. * * * 
Such as profess faith in God by Jesus 
Christ, though differing in judgment from 
the doctrine, worship and discipline pub- 
licly held forth, shall not be restrained 
from, but shall be protected in the pro- 
fession of the faith and exercise of their 
religion * '" * provided that this liberty 
be not extended to popery or prelacy nor 
to such as under the profession of Christ 
hold forth and practise licentiousness of 
opinion." 

It is not difficult to discover the handi- 
work of our rigid friends, the Puritans, in 
this legislation. 

When the Lord Proprietary came into 
power again in 1658 all laws passed since 
the overthrow of his authority were wholly 
disregarded. In spite of all efforts since 
that time the principle for which Cecilius 
stood has prevailed. 

How did matters stand in Europe at 
the time of the passage of the Act of 

81 



Toleration ? A brief statement will suffice. 
In 1649, ^^ England, both parties, save a 
few broad minded men like Cromwell, 
stood for an established Church and dis- 
senters were under considerable restriction. 
The same was true of Scotland. In France, 
the liberties the Hugenots had secured 
under Henry IV were being gradually- 
taken away, and La Rochelle had fallen. 
In other Roman and Greek Catholic lands 
persecution and even death was the lot of 
heretics. In Germany, the principle of 
the State Church and of cujus regio ejus 
religio was thoroughly recognized by the 
Peace of Westphalia which ended the 
thirty years war in 1648. In Scandinavia, 
the Lutheran Church did not make the 
lot of the dissenter easy. Only in Hol- 
land and Switzerland was toleration found. 
The idea that Church and State must 
be joined together was an old one although 
the founder of the Christian religion had 
taught the opposite. He said, " Render 
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and 
render to God the things that are God's." 

82 



The principle of the independence of 
Church and State seems here to be clearly- 
stated. Schaff calls these the wisest words 
"ever uttered in answer to an entangling 
question." If Christ meant exactly what 
SchafF assumes he meant, and his words 
had been accepted as a divine command 
to his followers, much of the turmoil the 
world has seen could and would have 
been avoided. What effect this would 
have had on the general development of 
mankind it is idle to ask. For some 
reason the command was not observed 
and the idea that it was the business of 
government to control religious beliefs 
took almost complete control. Whatever 
evil results may have followed from this 
state of affairs in the form of war and 
persecution of individuals it seems prob- 
able that it led to more intense thought 
on the subject of rehgion. It is a fair 
question whether the minds of men could 
ever have been directed towards spiritual 
matters so generally in any other way. 
The simplest view of the subject of the 

83 



relation of Church and State is that they 
should be joined. The members of a 
State are in a sense members of a large 
family. The head of a family to this day 
has much to say about the religious beliefs 
of the members of his family, at least 
during their earlier years. It is natural 
that in patriarchal governments this view 
should be extended to the head of the 
government. Man had to learn by ex- 
perience that in the long run this method 
of dealing with religious matters does not 
work satisfactorily, and although today 
many of the countries of the world have 
their established churches there is even 
in these countries much greater freedom 
in religion than in the seventeenth century. 
There is still persecution in some places, 
but it cannot be carried far. The world 
at large is rigidly opposed to it, and will 
see to it that it is stopped. Maryland 
taught the world a lesson — a much-needed 
lesson even in the American colonies. At 
the time of the passage of the Act of 
Toleration, Congregationalism was the es- 

84 



tablished church In Massachusetts and 
nearly all New England ; Episcopacy in 
Virginia, the Carolinas, and New York. 
" The first English settlers fled from per- 
secution in their native land, and sought 
freedom of worship for themselves, but for 
themselves alone. With the exception ot 
the Baptist colony of Rhode Island, the 
Quaker colony of Pennsylvania, and the 
Cathohc colony of Maryland, the princi- 
ple of state churchism was as fully recog- 
nised and established in our colonial period 
as in England." 

The experiment of Roger WiUiams in 
Rhode Island was begun a little earlier 
than the experiment in Maryland. Wil- 
liams objected to a State Church. To him 
it " was an abomination, however it might 
be administered, and whether it abode in 
Rome, in England, or in Massachusetts." 
His views were most forcibly and clearly 
expressed. Thus, " As it would be con- 
fusion for the Church to censure such mat- 
ters and acts of such persons as belong not 
to the Churchy so it is confusion for the State 



to punish spiritual offenses^ for they are not 
within the sphear of a civil jurisdiction. * * * 
The Civil State and Magistrate are meerly 
and essentially civile and therefore can not 
reach (without transgressing the bounds of 
civility) to judge in matters spiritual, which 
are of another sphear and nature than 
civility is." Again, " Civil and corporal 
punishments do usually cause men to play 
the hypocrite and dissemble in their Re- 
ligion, to turn and return with the tide, as 
all experience in the nations of the world do 
testifie now. This binding and rebinding 
of conscience, contrary or without its own 
perswasion, so weakens and defiles it that 
it (as all other faculties) loseth its strength 
and the very nature of a common honest 
conscience." 

The charter granted to William Penn 
in 1 68 1 leaves the question of liberty of 
conscience open, but it contains this im- 
portant clause, " if any of the inhabitants 
to the number of Twenty signify in writ- 
ing to the bishop of London their desire 
for a preacher, such a preacher or preachers 

86 



as may be sent by him shall be allowed to 
reside and exercise their functions in the 
colony without any deniall or molestacion 
whatsoever." There is obviously no great 
amount of freedom in this, and Penn's 
" Frame of Government " leaves much to 
be desired in this respect. But whatever 
may be said in regard to the Pennsylvania 
experiment it is to be noted that it came 
later than that of Maryland, so that it may 
be left out of consideration in dealing with 
the question as to the importance of Balti- 
more's acts and especially of the Act of 
Toleration, In comparing the work of 
Roger Williams with that of Baltimore it 
is to be observed that they held very 
different views. They agreed that govern- 
ment should not attempt to control the 
religious beliefs of the people, but Wil- 
liams insisted upon an absolute separation 
of Church and State. This Baltimore did 
not do, but he did insist that CathoHcs 
and Protestants should live together in 
peace and that no one should be perse- 
cuted on account of his religion. The 

87 



atheist would not have found it comfort- 
able in any of the colonies. As for the 
agnostic, he had not been born, and it 
was unnecessary to make provision for him 
or to prescribe punishment for his particu- 
lar form of offence. 

Religious toleration was a preliminary 
to religious freedom. The two are not 
synonymous. The term toleration implies 
some superiority and advantage of one 
form of belief over others. It does not 
proclaim the equality of all forms of belief 
under the law. That came later, after the 
colonists had had a great variety of experi- 
ences during about a century and a half. 
They had finally come to join their forces 
for the purpose of gaining their independ- 
ence and after the Revolution, which, it 
must be remembered, had nothing to do 
with religion, the framers of the Federal 
Constitution guaranteed full religious 
liberty to all American citizens within the 
jurisdiction of the United States. The 
Constitution adopted under Washington 
in 1787 provides (Act VI., Sec. 3) that 



" No religious tests shall ever be required 
as a qualification to any office or public trust 
under the United States." And in 1789 
the first amendment to the Constitution, 
proposed by the first Congress declares: 
" Congress shall make no law respecting an 
establishment of religion, or prohibiting 
the fi-ee exercise thereof, or abridging the 
freedom of speech, or abridging the free- 
dom of the press, or of the rights of the 
people peaceably to assemble, and to peti- 
tion the government for a redress of 
grievances." Here is absolute religious 
liberty. The people of America " render 
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's " at 
least. Whether they "render to God the 
things that are God's " is another question 
and a deep one. This question the Gov- 
ernment does not ask. Certain it is that 
our attitude towards religion is quite diflfer- 
ent from that of our forefathers. We are 
free from governmental interference in such 
matters, and we believe that this is an 
advantage. Has our religious thought 
benefited by this freedom? If evidence 

89 



Is sought in outward forms probably a 
negative answer would have to be given. 
But if the conduct of our people is looked 
into and compared with that of the first 
settlers of this country and of their con- 
temporaries in Europe, we should not, I 
am sure, suffer by the comparison. So 
far as religious beliefs are concerned, the 
tendency is certainly towards such as are 
broader and sounder. As Lyman Abbott 
says : " Two changes have taken place in 
the life of the church, both of them for 
the better, though doubtless accompanied, 
as all such changes are, by some adverse 
circumstances. First, the public interest 
has been transferred from theological to 
ethical problems, — that is from problems 
in the philosophy of religion to problems 
in practical conduct. Second, we have 
grown more catholic, that is, more large- 
minded; have come, or are coming, to 
see the difference between the truths and 
the truth, and to perceive that none of us 
possess the truth, and that our neighbor 
possesses some fragment of truth which 
we ourselves have failed to possess." * * * 

90 



"While we may well deprecate the ten- 
dency of theological unconcern to develop 
into spiritual indifferentism, while we may 
well be on our guard against it ourselves, 
and try to put others on guard against it, 
we may certainly see that the close of the 
nineteenth century is far in advance of the 
beginning in the juster comparative esti- 
mate which it puts on speculative thought 
and practical life, in the more cautious 
estimate which each one puts upon his 
own opinions, and in the greater readiness 
of each to give respectful consideration to 
the opinions of his neighbor." 




9» 



letter of 

Edwin Rowland Blashfield 

describing the decoration 



"IX/HAT I intended to suggest was sini- 
" ' ply Lord Baltimore commending 
his people to Wisdom, Justice and Mercy. 
Wisdom holds out the olive branch of 
Peace to the tolerant. Behind Lord Balti- 
more a Catholic priest and a Protestant pas- 
tor hold between them the edict of tolera- 
tion. A negress and an Indian squaw 
crouch behind Baltimore and lay hold of 
his mantle of black and gold (the colors of 
the commonwealth). To right and left and 
in the side panels are other figures of 
colonists introduced simply to fill out the 
composition decoratively. At the side of 
Justice a boy holds a shield with the date 
1649, t^^ y^^'" of the edict. In the center 
of the decoration a nude boy holds the 
scales level as a symbol of equity, and 
points upward at the motto of the Balti- 
mores, " Thou hast covered us with the 
shield of thy good will." The back- 
ground is woodland with a suggestion of 
the Bay. I think that my " Washing- 
ton " work for Baltimore showed progress 
upon anything that I had done before, 
and that my " Lord Baltimore " is techni- 
cally a decided advance upon the other. 

December i ith, 1904. 
95 



Ill 



Extracts 

FROM OTHER ADDRESSES 

DELIVERED AT THE 

annual flileettng 

OF THE 

fIDuntctpal art Socteti? 

January 11th 
1905 




parhs, etc. 

(Extracts) 

By Theodore Marburg 

CINCE our last annual meeting the Mu- 
nicipal Art Society has dedicated the 
Howard statue, unveiled the second Tur- 
ner decoration, received, and, in conjunction 
with the Park Board, published the Olm- 
sted report. It is this evening participat- 
ing in the unveiling of the new Blashfield 
decoration. These things are of a per- 
manent nature, and we have sought to 
give them such quality that they will be 
of lasting and growing value to the city. 
After tonight the work of the society will 
be closed in connection with all the objects 
enumerated except the Olmsted parking 
plan. * * * This society cannot empha- 
size too often the importance of the park 
movement. There is no one thing which 
it has done, nor probably ever will do, 
which can equal in importance the pro- 
vision of adequate breathing spaces for 
the people. Art has many uses, but it 
can never rival nature in the pure enjoy- 

99 



ment it brings to the dweller in the 
crowded city. And are you not intro- 
ducing nature at this man's door when 
you give him parks ? The Japanese 
viewpoint is interesting in this connec- 
tion. After the farmer in that country 
has acquired a competence and turned 
over his farm, as is his custom, to his 
son, one of the first things he does is to 
view the wonders of Japan. Now these 
wonders are very different from ours. 
They are such things as the moon rising 
over the mists in a certain valley, the 
evening light on the fishing fleet coming 
in at a particular harbor, the bloom of the 
plum trees in the orchard of a noted tem- 
ple, the light of the sea-dragon or phos- 
phorescence that plays around a group of 
red-rocked, pine-clad islands. Though 
the Japanese are consummate artists in 
their way, they have gone through the 
gamut of man's attempt to interpret nature 
which we call art, and have fallen back 
upon nature itself as the thing most 
beautiful. 

1 recall with interest the impression 



made upon me by experimentation in 
house-building at the Ausstellung in 
Hesse-Darmstadt, a few years ago. Each 
of the half-dozen houses constituting the 
exhibition was unique. One would sud- 
denly happen upon a room raised to the 
full height of the house, with balconies on 
which adjoining rooms opened out. The 
wall decorations, stained glass, metal work, 
even the glassware on the table, were things 
one had never seen before. The effect 
was very beautiful. But presently there 
came to one the reflection, " What would 
happen if men should attempt to build a 
city in this wise ? " Very soon originality 
would come to an end, and they would 
begin to repeat, and when they began to 
repeat, this new art would be in nowise 
superior to the old. Nothing so impresses 
one with man's limitations as the city with 
its row upon row of houses substantially 
alike. In the town the variety that inter- 
ests us is the variety of mind in men, the 
diversity of human motive. Nature's 
creature is thus varied, but in the things 
he himself fashions, this variety of mind 



lOI 



and motive Is only feebly expressed. Be- 
yond the city gates what contrast ! How 
different the impress of the summer woods, 
with its varying shades of green, its motion 
and pleasant sounds ; of the winter woods, 
with its interlacing branches, gnarled roots, 
moss and uneven ground. And then the 
changing sky ! No one day is like another ; 
no one sky is like another. Everywhere 
is infinite variety. This variety and this 
refreshing beauty, superior to art, is what 
you introduce to the masses in the big 
cities when you give them parks. Com- 
parisons are at times unhappy, and often 
unnecessary ; but if we should compare 
the other objects for which the Municipal 
Art Society has striven, we would find 
them at this moment dwindle into insignifi- 
cance when weighed against the parking 
plan ; not only intrinsically, but because 
now is the time to carry out the Olmsted 
plan. Unless we acquire the needed land 
in the near future, much of it will be built 
upon, and we never can acquire it. ''' * * 
Several of the objects for which the 
Municipal Art Society has been working 



I02 



it can now afford to drop from Its pro- 
gram. Among these are the sewerage 
system and good streets. One learns to 
be skeptical about things which appear to 
be on the eve of realization ; but it is hard 
to see how the present movement for 
improvements can be defeated. 

Movements at present under way, 
wholly or partly under the auspices of 
the Municipal Art Society, are : to pro- 
vide, for the west lobby of the Courthouse, 
decorations by John La Farge ; to erect 
memorials to Edgar Allan Poe and to the 
founder of the Johns Hopkins University 
and Hospital ; to continue the work of 
decorating the public schools ; to prose- 
cute the campaign for the suppression of 
the smoke nuisance. 

Few events since the foundation of the 
Society are more gratifying to its officers 
than the provision made by two patriotic 
societies for new decorations in the Court- 
house to illustrate the coming of the Ark 
and Dove to our shores. It is an earnest 
of the day when the work we have been 
doing will go on without us. 

103 



Scbool Decoration 

(Extracts) 

By Elizabeth King Ellicott 



W 



'E will assume that in the ideal school- 
house, the first requisite is a building, 
which though simple, should in propor- 
tions, material, lighting and ventilation, be 
a daily lesson in architecture to its pupils, 
and an ornament and source of pride to 
the neighborhood. 

When a new schoolhouse is approach- 
ing completion, the architect or building 
inspector should inquire what coloring 
and treatment of the rooms are needed as 
a background for decoration and the com- 
mittee, if so consulted, would send in the 
following recommendations : 

The windows, doors, blackboards and 
ventilating apparatus should be studied as 
parts of one whole and their finish and 
painting should be in harmony with the 
scheme of color chosen. For instance, in 
a sunny room where a green wall would 
soften the light, the blackboards should 
be painted a dark green, with the frame 

105 



a somewhat lighter tone, which would 
harmonize with the paler green wall, and 
all the woodwork of doors and windows 
should match the frame of the black- 
boards. This involves very little or no 
extra outlay of money, for the reason that 
it is merely the treatment of necessary 
structural features, properly carried out 
in the beginning, instead of a subsequent 
struggle to overcome mistakes. If the 
treatment ended here it would be a 
pleasure to live in the room, and the 
room in itself would be an education in 
color and harmony. Unless the room 
is so treated, the blackboards will persist 
in being the most prominent features in 
it, and the doors and windows will prove 
of more importance than the best exam- 
ples of art upon the walls, no matter how 
exalted the sentiment nor how refined the 
feeling displayed in their selection. 

The dimensions of the wall spaces should 
determine the size of the casts and pictures. 
For example, at the end of the room, 
facing the rows of desks, there is usually 
a large wall space. A row of casts from 

io6 



the Elgin marbles, or a chariot race, illus- 
trating one of the chief activities of a 
well-developed and artistic people, is a 
noble object for the eye to dwell on and 
sufficient in itself to decorate the wall. 

The halls should, if well lighted, be 
painted a clear red, on which statuary of 
the best Greek and Renaissance periods 
can be placed with imposing effect. 

This naturally leads to the question of 
subject, and here there should be the 
sharpest differentiation between what are 
artistic, and what are strictly illustrative 
subjects. The introduction of amusing 
and pleasing pictures for the entertain- 
ment of children, accustoming their minds 
to enjoy cheap pictorial representations of 
commonplace subjects, is time and money 
wasted. All pictures should be educa- 
tional, but there is a radical difference 
between the class of subjects which a 
teacher requires for the purpose of illus- 
trating geography or history, and the 
class of subjects which quicken and 
inspire an artistic consciousness. For 
example, in one of the schools decorated 

107 



by the Municipal Art Society, there is 
an attractive room filled with colored 
lithographs of large size, of the finest 
American scenery : Shoshone Falls, Ni- 
agara, the Yosemite, the canyon of the 
Colorado, etc. They are invaluable in 
teaching natural science and geography, 
and they are also attractive and decora- 
tive, but they are only incidentally artistic, 
and should not be used for the purpose of 
teaching art. 

There are also in the same classrooms, 
large photographs of leading statesmen 
and authors, good to promote national 
ideals and the teaching of history, even 
though they are frequently no more artis- 
tic than the commonplace portraits of 
captains of industry which fill the pages 
of leading periodicals. 

After providing adequately for such 
illustrative decorations, the main issue 
which is the inspiration of this movement 
is next to be considered. What class of 
pictures should be introduced to educate 
the artistic consciousness of the pupils ^ 

The committee is very sure, in the light 
of its experience, that only the finest art 

1 08 



reproductions should be chosen, even at 
the risk of their being beyond the grasp 
of the pupils at first. 

There is only one restriction to be con- 
sidered. The subjects must be simple, 
for the undeveloped mind of a child 
cannot grasp complicated conditions ; but 
all that is finest in art which is simple in 
composition, should be put before the 
awakening intelligence of the pupils. For 
example, Michael Angelo's Moses, but 
not his Sibyls, would be understood by 
them. Not the whole panorama of the 
Sistine Madonna, but the eternal sweet- 
ness and symbolism of the mother and 
child, would impress them. Friezes of 
Greek athletes would present to a child 
coming from sordid surroundings a heroic 
physical ideal which nothing else could 
arouse, and would be understood by him 
when explained by an intelligent teacher. 

In all ages great art has associated itself 
with the highest aspirations and most 
vigorous developments of humanity, and 
therefore the choice of subjects for educa- 
tional purposes should be in the direction 

109 



of noblest thought and endeavor. Heroic 
periods of history, religious aspiration, 
immortal self-sacrifice have been the in- 
spiration of great artists, and should be 
put before the minds of children, when- 
ever possible, as they express the double 
purpose of greatest art and noblest living. 

Even in the selection of less important 
subjects, such as landscapes and flowers, 
only those compositions which have ele- 
ments of style in them should be chosen. 
For example, landscapes of Constable or 
Millet would be preferable to a photo- 
graph from nature, for the reason that 
style is, after all, the embodiment of some 
art idea modified by the genius of an artist, 
and interpreted of the people, and there- 
fore is of most value for educational 
purpose. Even commercial catalogues 
recognize this value ; to an increasing 
extent the best reproductions are repro- 
ductions of pictures which embody the 
motives above mentioned. 

Why is this effort being made by this 
and other societies ? And is it worth 
while to continue to uphold this standard ? 

The organization of the Municipal Art 



Societies has been largely an effort to 
revive and foster the artistic spirit in a 
new country and in no way can this spirit 
obtain a more organic hold than through 
the minds of the children of the public 
schools. 

The effect on mechanical arts would be 
great ; the effect on character would be 
even greater. One has but to study its 
effect on national character in Japan to see 
how great has been its value to that nation. 

During the period immediately preced- 
ing the modern regime, every article in 
use in a Japanese home, such as a bronze 
candlestick, a brass lamp, an iron kettle, 
a paper lantern, a wooden tray, reveals a 
sense of beauty and fitness unknown to 
western cheap production. This sense 
of beauty informed everything in com- 
mon life and gave a charm unspeakable 
to this older civilization. The results 
were simplicity and amiabihty of man- 
ners, daintiness and delicate tact and 
the strange power of presenting out- 
wardly under any circumstances, the best 
and brightest aspects of character. 

In fostering this spirit in American 



III 



nationality, the practical results will be 
far reaching. The pupil who leaves the 
grammar school to enter a trade or 
technological school, will do so with a 
quickened sense of color, form and pro- 
portion, invaluable in his career. Take, 
for example, the trade of house painting, 
and the universal difficulty experienced 
in obtaining desired tones owing to the 
lack of sensitiveness to color in the work- 
man's mind. This will be impossible in 
the future, if the coming house painter 
goes to school in rooms where his eye 
will instinctively have become accustomed 
to harmonious tints. 

The little girl who spends one-third of 
her young life in these same rooms, will no 
longer buy with her first earnings, the 
magenta waists and the pink roses with 
which she goes to the theatre, and what 
is more important, she will not go to 
the low theatres which now are nightly 
thronged by the youth of our cities to 
their ultimate demoralization. 

If a child attends school for six years 
in a well proportioned schoolhouse, and 



I 12 



daily inhabits a room beautiful in color, 
harmonious in line, stimulating in its dis- 
play of great ideas expressed in noblest 
form, the tendency will be to become 
tender in treatment of material things, 
discriminating in eye and ear and manner; 
evil and base things will become repug- 
nant, joyous and strong and bold con- 
ceptions of life will be more natural. 

He will grow to be the better citizen, 
because in addition to his purely mental 
training, his senses and emotions will be 
strengthened and purified by great art 
ideas as he is familiarized with them, 
and gradually in addition to the adaptive- 
ness and enterprise of the American citizen, 
the coming generation will have added to 
it the finer graces of the older civilizations. 



113 



L LETTER OF 

I CHAK.ES YAKOL.V T„K.EK 

I DESCRIBING HIS 

''Zvcat^ of Calvert wttb tbelnMane" 

unveiled at 

The Courthouse, June 2nd, 

1902 



Xlurner's Xetter 

r^OY. LEONARD CALVERT and 

his fellow Pilgrims arrived at the 
mouth of the Potomac River in March, 
1634. 

"They were met by friendly Indians, 
Yaocomicos, under the sovereignty of the 
Emperor of Piscataway, from whom they 
bought a tract of land for axes, hoes and 
cloth, and laid out the plan of a city which 
they called St. Marys." 

The decorative composition represents 
a conference with the Indians, having for 
its object the barter of agricultural imple- 
ments and cloth for a tract of land. The 
central group consists of Governor Calvert 
and his companions conversing with Indian 
chiefs ; extending into the other panels are 
more Indians and English. 

The extreme left-hand panel is intended 
to suggest the domestic side of Indian life. 
A squaw tries a new hoe and a brave curi- 
ously admires an axe recently used by the 
boy in chopping wood, while an old man 
in a blanket looks on. In the back- 
ground is shown the end of their long 

117 



house, the landscape stretching away in 
the distance ; trees, bare of fohage, are 
traced against the sky. To the right, 
behind Calvert, are the English Pilgrims. 

The right-hand panel, containing a view 
of the river and distant shore, with the 
ships riding at anchor, shows in the 
immediate foreground a family group 
occupied with the view. 

The groups of Indians and English are 
gathered near a grove of trees which forms 
the background, the shore and river ex- 
tending across the right-hand part of the 
composition. 

My desire was to emphasize the fact 
that the land was purchased, not taken 
by conquest, from the Indians. 

I have made the Indians in the first 
panel interested in the implements ex- 
changed, introducing such matter as might 
seem natural and at the same time meet 
the requirements of the decoration. 

The centre panel deals with the meeting 
and conference, or barter ; Leonard Cal- 
vert is facing the Indian chiefs with some 
of his followers. I intended the one with 
his hat removed, for Captain Fleete, acting 

ii8 



as interpreter. Some of the Indians are 
examining a piece of red cloth. 

In the third panel I have tried to sug- 
gest the interest the family had in the 
place where they are to settle, — by the 
banks of the river. 

The paintings are not intended to repre- 
sent a particular incident, occurring at a 
special moment, but are meant to convey 
the thought and action which pertained to 
the purchase of the land. 

Hence the title : Barter with the Indians 
for land in Southern Maryland, 1634. 



119 



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